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LTER

How will climate change affect New England forests over the next century? ﻿According to a series of new studies from HF Senior Ecologist Jonathan Thompson's lab, the answer is a mixed bag. In some respects, climate will exert an even greater impact than we thought: longer growing seasons will mean more tree growth and carbon storage. In other ways, climate impacts are likely to take a backseat to other factors, like the forests' continued recovery from colonial-era deforestation.

A new study in the journal Science reports on 26 years of data from the world’s longest-running forest soil warming experiment, based at the Harvard Forest since 1991. It suggests that in a warming world, a self-reinforcing and perhaps uncontrollable carbon feedback will occur between forest soils and the climate system, adding to the build-up of atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by burning fossil fuels, and ultimately accelerating global warming.

The Harvard Forest, Highstead, and authors from around New England have released a new report called “Wildlands and Woodlands, Farmlands and Communities," which broadens a 2010 Harvard Forest vision for conservation to permanently protect forests and farmlands as natural infrastructure that sustains both people and nature in the region.

Researchers from the Harvard Forest, Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, Michigan State University, Boston University, and CUNY were awarded $1.67 million from the National Science Foundation for a new project, Embedding Public Engagement with Science at Long-Term Ecological Research Sites (PES@LTERs).

In a newly released book, And Again: Photographs from the Harvard Forest, John Hirsch chronicles the research, scientists, and ephemera of the Harvard Forest, with a focus on the Long-Term Ecological Research Program.

Each year in New England, tree-killing insect pests cause sweeping changes in forests. Some changes are highly visible – like swaths of dead trees. A new Harvard Forest study points to a less visible but still critical impact: changes to freshwater streams, including streams that source public water supplies.

Scholarships are now available for educators wishing to bring middle and high school classes for a guided field trip to explore the forest and Fisher Museum, and to collect data as part of an authentic ecological field study.

Field trips are available in two locations: the Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts or Highstead in southern Connecticut.